I’ve designated tomorrow as a work day. Today, however, I examined the use of language learning tools after reading an article on how to learn a language from kuro5hin. And with the recent new research on natural language processing, it seemed like a potentially interesting tangential area to explore. Read on for my experiences.

A common problem with learning a second language is that, at least in your head, you’re always translating from your native language first. The Rosetta Stone software series avoids this barricade by using pictures coupled with audio, much like the way most children learn their first language. In fact, you’ll find yourself actually thinking in the native language, since the English translations are never shown. What’s interesting is that it actually seems to work.

For an audio course, most readers recommend the Pimsleur language learning system, hands down. And judging from the article comments, the general consensus is that, with the exception of Pimsleur, all audio language tapes are nearly worthless. The quality of audio tapes are difficult to quantify on a text journal, so let me just say that I tend to agree. You can judge for yourself by downloading audio tapes from alt.binaries.world-languages.

I’ll conclude by saying that many people use software products or audio tapes as a tool for purely independent study. I think that’s a horrible idea. In my opinion, the Rosetta Stone series and Pimsleur audio tapes are excellent learning tools, but should be used only when one has already had formal experience with the language. I believe that these tools are most effective when used to reinforce already studied concepts.

The installation of CarbonLib 1.6 on elmo allows Mozilla 1.02 to run on Mac OS 8.6. Unfortunately, all this effort was pretty much for nothing. Mozilla runs slowly on the system and, and is, for the most part, unresponsive to user input. iCab, an alternative browser for the PowerMac, will run, but renders anything above the simplest CSS and XHTML incorrectly. That’s too bad. At least it was worth a shot.

It’s just one of those days. Purchased a Netgear FS605 switch at an impressive price, thanks to PriceGrabber, Buy.com and Techbargains. The switch will serve as an intermediary between my local network and the wireless router in the living room. It will also allow me to reboot chronos without terminating network connectivity to the other boxes.

Upgraded the Linux kernel to version 2.6.9 on chronos and enabled hotplugging, which will allow the system to at least partially autoconfigure itself. Also successfully configured my Gravis Eliminator controller, which has been a royal thorn at my side all these years. First, you must determine the type of USB host controller on your system. This is done by running the following command:

lspci -v | grep HCI

and carefully wading through the output. Seems that I have the Universal Host Controller Interface, which, it turns out, is different from the Open Host Controller Interface. That’s the great thing about standards. There’s just so many to choose from. Next, enable UHCI as a module, as well as the joystick device, joydev, and hotplug will take care of the rest. At least today’s apt-get went without a hitch, and the Samba init scripts are back to normal.

A lot has been happening this week, and it’s a challenge to keep up with it all. Somewhere in between fighting the flu, which has pretty much foiled any activities for this week, and writing content for the Linux Journal, I’ve been juggling consulting work with Corporate Partners on IT development, preparing packages for inclusion in Debian, pushing logical markup at certain colleges, compulsively watching the latest season of Smallville, donating to worthy causes, working with Linux character devices, and of course, applying for jobs.

Oliver Corff designed the invoice package as a tailor-made solution for a consultant who charges fees and claims all sorts of expenses, sometimes working on different assignments for the same client. This class works surprisingly well for consulants who need to write up quick quotes and invoices without the headache of having a full business accounting system such as Peachtree. Here’s a quick example on how to put together an invoice:

\begin{invoice}{USD}{0}
\ProjectTitle{Project Phoenix}
   \Fee{Some really lengthy and utterly
    tedious negotiation} 
    {1818.00} {12}
\ProjectTitle{Sales Restructuring}
   \Fee{Sales Structure Analysis}
    {2750.00} {6}
   \Fee{Negotiation with Agents}
    {2750.00} {3}
\end{invoice}

The header sets the currency and the tax, which we have set to none in the above example. An invoice can contain multiple projects, and fees can be assessed for individual tasks. The invoice class can also handle expenses, discounts, as well as downpayments. As a convenience, totals are also calculated automatically.

Looks like I’ve been on a film binge lately. Zach Braff’s Garden State is the story of a young man who returns home for his mother’s funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade. With that out of the way, let me begin by saying that I have a strange fascination with this movie that I simply can’t pinpoint. For instance, there’s very little action to speak of, even less of a plot, and shoddy camera work to top it all off. Perhaps the attraction of this film, then, is its very real, emotional honesty. These are every day people with every day roles solving every day problems. These are situations that can happen to you or me or anyone else, but Braff presents it in such a way that it feels like a fantastical dream. Readers of Douglas Coupland will no doubt enjoy the Generation X undertones present in this peculiar exposition on life.

Pixar has done it again with their latest animated film, Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, the story of a family of superheroes forced to hide in a witness protection program and lead anonymous lives as a result of a barrage of lawsuits against superheroes submitted by the people they’ve saved. Though the film does lag at times, there’s quite a few laughs in this one, great voice talents, and of course, the latest and greatest in CG animation that continues to inspire and amaze. This one’s definitely worthy of a high Juan rating.

Ashton Kuther’s The Butterfly Effect explores the idea of Chaos Theory and the interplay of cause and effect in our lives. It says so right on the web site. It turns out that there are three endings to this movie; the one I saw was the Director’s Cut. It’s also the ending that is the least depressing of the three. If, like myself, you’re a fan of the time travel paradox, then this is one film that you won’t want to miss.

Mark, Joel, and I met at Miro’s Garden tapas bar, named after the Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miro, in Little Five Points. On Wednesday nights they have a free buffet to complement their eclectic drink menu. The location was once occupied by La Fonda Latina. We discussed politics, as well as technology and business. Joel, in particular, has been doing some neat work with J2EE and XML, and I was somewhat intrigued when I discovered that he is also a Georgia Tech alumnus with a master’s degree in Computer Science.